The Face of Newark Abroad

Posts tagged ‘BBQ’

I have a travel goal of exploring more of the US of A. Luckily for me I have a good friend that lives in Kentucky. I went to visit her and have now successfully visited my 17th and 18th state. They’re on the border of Kentucky and Tennessee.

Hopskinville, Kentucky and Clarksville, Tennessee house an American Army base. Clarksville is home of “Air Assault.” (I’m still not exactly what that means and did not do a great job pronouncing it in my video. I’ll look it up later.) Anyway you will see plenty of soldiers and their families. The base is enormous.

We decided to go to Nashville for dinner and a show. Her husband took care of the kiddies. I was so excited to see what the city had to offer. We had dinner at BB Kings. The live music was great! Everyone was dancing, relaxing and having a good time. The atmosphere was amazing. I could have stayed in there all night. Alas, we needed to wander the streets since my time in the city was limited. We headed to the famous (or infamous) Broadway. It’s a strip choc full of neon lights, gift shops, watering holes, bars, clubs, restaurants, shops that sell boots, and great music.

Broadway on any given Saturday night is loud, crowded, bright, drunken, and a good time for a few minutes. After walking up and down Broadway a couple of times that night, I had seen enough. It was a little hectic. I was really enthralled by the music in the city though. It seemed every bar and restaurant we walked passed had great live music coming from it and I wanted to stop in. All in all, I definitely need more time in Nashville. I would like to visit during the day also. Though Broadway is really crowded and crazy, I would go back because the music is too good to stay away.

Lake City, Florida is a small town. While visiting family there, we went to Old Times Buffet. {I still insist on calling it Old Timers; that’s what it was full of!} I really enjoyed myself though. The food was delicious!! We went during lunch time and ate until we couldn’t take anymore! Please eat here if you’re ever in town.

Iced tea from a plastic cup with a pig on it. Check!

Any restaurant that gives you plastic cups with pigs on them is going to give you a good, southern meal!

This trip was during August 2011. I was headed to Florida from New Jersey but had a connecting flight. I chose my connection location carefully. (Continue reading and you’ll see why.) I arrived at Newark EWR without incident and went through security. Of course my Jersey girl costume jewelry went off in the metal detectors and I received a friendly pat-down. After making a couple phone calls I boarded the plane. I chatted with a gentleman in my row. We talked about him living in Florida and me going to visit family there. He asked where I lived and we talked about Paris. He told me he hadn’t been there in almost 30 years. We had a few laughs at the expense of the cigarette smoking, skinny, wine drinking, French. A young lady then sat between us. We talked about her life. She shared that she will be a freshman this fall in college majoring in Art. She worked on a little drawing during the flight that was very good. The drawing was a girl character of some sort and she was putting wings on it.

Once in air all I could think about was my layover in Charlotte. Truth be told I thought about it when I knew I had to book my flight. I was excited to stop there to get some food. I love CLT airport. There are cute little shops that cater to your every need and whim. I remember about 3 years ago a coworker and I had a layover there on the way back to New Jersey. We decided to have a drink in Tequilaria. The name alone sounded exotic and wonderful! The drinks were pretty good too. We sat at the bar and chatted with the bartender until our delayed flight was finally ready for boarding.

During my most recent layover there, 1 month ago, I was looking for food. Burgers did not interest me and I settled on Chinese food. I looked for it on the giant directory. While walking towards the Chinese food, I noticed a long line. It wasn’t for the Chinese, it was right next to it. I looked up to see that it was North Carolina BBQ. With the line being so long I figured it had to be good. I glanced at the food behind the glass before getting in line. I saw a giant piece of meat that was being sliced. I had made up my mind after reading the menu. It was a tough choice between the ribs or the pulled pork but I opted for the pulled pork sandwhich with fried okra. I was so excited. I love Carolina BBQ!

The staff was very friendly. The food looked good but I hoped the meat wasn’t too dry. I asked them not to put bbq sauce on the sandwich (since I don’t eat it). The man at the end of the line reached in a food bin and put something on my plate. It was fried and in the shape of a wedge. I paid for my food and happily sat down.

The pulled pork was the best pulled pork sandwich I had ever had! It was soft and it seemed to have melted in my mouth. The fried wedge that I thought was a potato turned out to be a fried pickle! Even that was yummy too. I was a greedy person in heaven. I had bliss on my face as I held the sandwich with two hands and ate it.

I had told the man in my row about this experience and he said he may join me for a bite there before his next flight. We got off the plane and shared a delicious meal at Brookwood Farms. After finishing the meals, we exchanged names and wished each other good luck in travel and life.